School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, 18 Aristotelous St., Patra 26335, Greece.
School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, 18 Aristotelous St., Patra 26335, Greece; Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia St., Thessaloniki 54636, Macedonia, Greece.
Public Health. 2017 Nov;152:145-152. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2017.07.033. Epub 2017 Sep 9.
The aim of this research was twofold: (1) develop an instrument to assess knowledge regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) and its vaccine and utilize this instrument to measure knowledge levels of Greek adolescents in Lyceum schools of Western Thessaloniki; and (2) examine the associations of the resultant knowledge measure scores with sociodemographic characteristics.
Cross-sectional survey with complex sampling design.
A total of 268 students of three Lyceum schools in Western Thessaloniki responded anonymously to a questionnaire during February-March 2013. The instrument was developed by literature review. Answers of respondents to individual questions were initially presented in terms of absolute and relative frequencies. Knowledge items were presented by gender along with appropriate chi-squared tests. Next, the development and validation of a knowledge score was pursued with Rasch analysis. Raw scores of dichotomous true/false items were converted to interval-level adjusted student scores, and the reliability and validity of the model were assessed. Finally, the effect of sociodemographic variables on the knowledge measure was explored by multivariate linear regression.
Analysis of individual items documented low knowledge for both female and male students along with a limited role of doctors as information agents and little associated encouragement toward vaccination. Vaccine uptake was low with many young girls being largely unwilling to vaccinate in the future primarily due to the fear of side-effects and lack of information. Person location parameters (knowledge scores) were derived from a Rasch model with satisfactory reliability and validity. The resultant validated measure confirmed the low knowledge levels of Greek students. Nationality and birthplace seemed to affect knowledge level.
Further improvement and validation of the knowledge measure used in this study can assist nationwide surveys in order to examine student knowledge regarding HPV and its vaccine. Our findings also stress the exacerbated need for effective nationwide educational campaigns aiming to inform adolescents about HPV and the associated vaccine. Appropriate incentives should also be given to physicians to increase their involvement. Parents and students should be thoroughly informed about the value of research similar to ours, in order to increase survey participation rates.
本研究旨在达到两个目的：（1）开发一种评估人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）及其疫苗知识的工具，并利用该工具测量希腊西部塞萨洛尼基高中青少年的知识水平；（2）探讨所得知识衡量分数与社会人口统计学特征的相关性。
采用复杂抽样设计的横断面调查。
2013 年 2 月至 3 月，共有来自西部塞萨洛尼基三所高中的 268 名学生匿名回答了一份问卷。该工具是通过文献回顾开发的。最初，根据绝对和相对频率呈现受访者对个别问题的答案。知识项目按性别呈现，并进行适当的卡方检验。接下来，采用 Rasch 分析方法探讨知识得分的开发和验证。对二分真/假题的原始分数进行转换，得到间隔水平调整后的学生分数，并评估模型的可靠性和有效性。最后，通过多元线性回归探讨社会人口统计学变量对知识衡量的影响。
对个别项目的分析表明，男女学生的知识水平都较低，医生作为信息代理的作用有限，对疫苗接种的鼓励也很少。疫苗接种率较低，许多年轻女孩未来主要由于担心副作用和缺乏信息而不愿意接种疫苗。从 Rasch 模型中得出的个人位置参数（知识分数）具有令人满意的可靠性和有效性。所得验证后的衡量标准证实了希腊学生的知识水平较低。国籍和出生地似乎影响知识水平。
进一步改进和验证本研究中使用的知识衡量标准可以协助全国性调查，以检查学生对 HPV 及其疫苗的知识。我们的研究结果还强调，迫切需要开展有效的全国性教育运动，以使青少年了解 HPV 及其相关疫苗。还应给予医生适当的激励，以增加他们的参与。应向家长和学生充分告知类似我们的研究的价值，以提高调查参与率。
